Yesterday’s post about the Coolest Thing to Do with 130k and 280k American Airlines Miles got me to look at the American Airlines’ chart again for value. I found what I think are the Five Best Values in premium cabins.
These values combine low miles, low taxes and fees, and the very best products from among American’s partners. How does First Class on Etihad or British Airways for 40k miles sound?
A few weeks ago, I shared my thoughts on The Coolest Thing You Can Do with 57.5k United Miles and 10k Avios, which arose from daydreaming about booking myself more award trips.
The last few days I’ve worked myself into a frenzy planning an incredible-value American Airlines Explorer Award around the world in business class for 130k American Airlines miles and the most opulent Explorer Award possible for 280k miles.
Posted in AAdvantage, Cathay Pacific, Explorer Award, Finnair, Qantas
Tagged Award Booking, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Explorer Award, First Class, Qantas
This is a guest post from Chase Tajima. Chase is a tax attorney in Honolulu–Aloha! He writes about Hawaii tax law at TheTaxTable.wordpress.com. Anyone is welcome to submit a guest Anatomy of an Award post, so we can all learn from interesting award bookings.
I started following MileValue because I wanted to find a cost effective way to get from Honolulu to Delhi, India to attend my college roommate’s wedding. Roundtrip flights from from Honolulu to Delhi ranged from about $1,600 to $2,000+ in economy. I found MileValue.com to be the only blog that effectively taught award booking rules step-by-step. [Scott: Thanks, Chase!]
I started by learning about The Five Cardinal Rules of American Airlines Awards. While most of the rules were fairly easy to follow, the fifth rule–unique to American Airlines awards–is incredibly frustrating:
Awards between Region A and Region B cannot transit Region C unless specifically allowed.
What this means is that an award from Honolulu (North America) to Delhi (Middle East/Indian Subcontinent) cannot route through another region, say Asia 1 (Tokyo).
There are exceptions to this rule. One of these exceptions is that a routing may traverse Europe to get from North America to the Indian Subcontinent. In other words, to get to India, one must either fly directly or one may route through Europe. All other routings are invalid.
Under this exception, I could have routed through Europe, but I wanted a free oneway prior to my flight to India. This meant Honolulu would have to be my international gateway city because stopovers are only allowed at the North American international gateway city on AA awards and you have to stopover at your home airport to employ a free oneway. This, in turn, meant that I had to try to fly west over the Pacific through Asia to get to India.
How could I get a free oneway and follow AA routing rules?
I called the AAdvantage desk at 800-882-8880 to reserve an award flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu–my free oneway–with a month long stopover and then Honolulu to Delhi. The first agent said it wouldn’t be possible to have a stopover in Honolulu because it couldn’t be my international gateway city traveling to India.
With AAdvantage miles in short supply, I hung up and decided to get creative.
I took a look at the AA award chart, which specifically requires that a North America to India award be transatlantic only. That award is 45k miles each way in economy class.
But what if I went through Asia?
Going from North America to India via Asia would mean that my award would actually be two awards from AA’s perspective. USA to Asia and Asia to India.
I found space for flights from Honolulu to Tokyo and Tokyo to Delhi. Could I make it work?
The wedding is scheduled for November, which is a break for me. That means that my USA to Asia 1 flight falls during the off peak dates of October 1 – April 30. That means that Los Angeles to Honolulu//Honolulu to Tokyo priced at 25k miles oneway.
Tokyo to Delhi is 22.5k miles each way year round. My total trip priced at 47.5k (25k + 22.5k) miles. That’s 2,500 miles more than if I had routed through Europe, but look at the benefits:
1) Free oneway from Los Angeles to Honolulu. If I’d routed east through Europe, there would have been no free oneway possible. I value the free oneway at $200.
2) Free stopover possible in Japan. Normally free stopovers are only allowed on AA awards in North America. But because AA saw my award as two awards, I could stop in Japan for as long as I liked. [Scott: This is the way to get free stopovers abroad on AA awards; break one award into two. Sometimes this can even save miles, like if you broke New York to Amman into New York to Berlin and Berlin to Amman during the winter. The award would drop from 45k to 40k (20k + 20k) AA miles.]
3) More direct routing from Honolulu. Heading west saved me about 5,000 miles of flying, which is about ten hours I don’t have to be in an economy class seat!
4) Routing west meant no chance of flying British Airways, which would have cost hundreds of extra dollars in surcharges!
5) I was able to upgrade to business class for part of the award at a low miles price. If I had flown east and wanted one segment in business class, the whole award would have priced in business class–67.5k miles. But since flying west meant two awards, when I later decided to upgrade Tokyo to Delhi, it only cost me 7,500 extra miles to change from JAL economy to Cathay Pacific business class. Now the award is half economy–to Tokyo–and half business–to Delhi–for 55k total.
Is this useful for non-Hawaiians?
People on the west coast may find shorter routings heading west to India than east. To unlock those shorter routings, they can head west breaking their one award into two. It will cost a few more miles, but they will have the benefits I mentioned above. And they can stopover for free in Asia, which they would normally not be allowed to do.
What about people who want to fly business class?
There is a bigger premium to fly business class west to India. Flying east would cost 67.5k miles each way in business class. Flying west would mean two awards: 50k to Asia 1 and 30k more from Asia 1 to India for a total of 80k each way. That 12.5k difference is bigger, but may be worth it for people who want a better route, a chance to fly Cathay Pacific, or a free stopover in Japan, Korea, or Mongolia (Asia 1).
Recap
The award chart and AA agents will tell you that you can’t route west from the US to India. But you can, and I’ve ticketed exactly that. The trick is to ticket the trip as two awards–one from the US to Asia and one from Asia to India. During the winter in economy class, this is only a 2,500 mile premium over heading east.
During the summer and in business class, the premium is larger. But heading west has great benefits–the biggest of which may be unlocking a free stopover in Japan, which is otherwise impossible on an AA award.
And it wouldn’t be an AA award without a free oneway. Make sure you are grabbing all the free oneways, stopovers, and open jaws you are entitled to.
Posted in AAdvantage, Anatomy of an Award, Cathay Pacific
Tagged American, Anatomy of an Award, Award Booking, Cathay Pacific, JAL
This is Part 2 of my two-part post on using AA miles to get to Australia and New Zealand. Read Part 1 first.
Here are a few more ways to get to Australia and New Zealand with American miles.
Air Tahiti Nui and Air Pacific: Connect in the Middle of Nowhere
One horribly annoying rule when redeeming AA miles is that your award cannot transit a region other than the origin region and destination region unless explicitly permitted. (Seriously, read The Five Cardinal Rules of AA Awards if you haven’t.)
Awards between North America and the South Pacific cannot route through any airports not in those regions. The obvious candidate for a third region to transit would be Asia. If you fly USA-Asia-Australia, AA will break that into two awards and charge you the USA-Asia price plus the Asia-Australia price.
You might think that means you can only route on direct flights between the USA and Australia, but American actually has two non-oneworld partners with hubs within AA’s definition of the South Pacific.
Air Tahiti Nui has its hub (PPT) in Tahiti and Air Pacific’s hub (NAN) is in Fiji. Air Tahiti Nui’s relevant flights are:
Los Angeles <-> Tahiti
Tahiti <-> Auckland
And Air Pacific’s are:
Los Angeles <-> Fiji
Honolulu <-> Fiji
Fiji <-> Auckland
Fiji <-> Christchurch
Fiji <-> Sydney
Fiji <-> Melbourne
Fiji <-> Brisbane
That means you can route from Australia or New Zealand through either Tahiti or Fiji to Los Angeles and other points within the US and Canada for the normal miles price of 37.5k/62.5k/72.5k each way in economy/business/first.
I’m not sure how to search Air Pacific’s availability besides calling AA. Let us know in the comments if you know a better way.
Air Tahiti Nui’s space can be found on ExpertFlyer. (See my guide to using ExpertFlyer.) Getting from Los Angeles to Auckland may include an overnight in Tahiti, but it is very possible. Remember that layovers can be up to 24 hours on international AA awards.
The two major drawbacks of routing through Tahiti and Fiji are that you can’t stopover, and the premium-cabin product is not very impressive.
Stopovers on AA awards can only be taken at the North American International Gateway city, meaning they can never be taken outside North America–unless you know one of my tricks that does not apply here.
If you want to spend more than 24 hours in Fiji or Tahiti on the way to Australia, you’ll need a separate award from those places to Australia or New Zealand costing 20k/30k/42.5k each way in economy/business/first.
That means a vacation that included both Tahiti and New Zealand would cost 95k/155k/187.5k AA miles total in economy/business/first class.
Here’s the seatmap of the Air Tahiti Nui plane that you’d fly the whole way:
First class features angled lie flats, and business class has recliners. I’ll also add that I’ve never seen an Air Tahiti Nui flight with more than one first class award seat available.
I would only route on Air Pacific or Air Tahiti Nui to Oceania if I wanted to stopover in those places and to pay for the extra award or if it were the only way to get to Australia, and I really needed to be there.
To book Air Pacific or Air Tahiti Nui, you will have to call AA and incur a $25 phone fee. The number is 800-882-8880.
Cathay Pacific: Combining Asia and Australia at a Higher Miles Price
You can’t book one award from the USA to Australia that routes through Asia. AA will automatically break that into USA to Asia and Asia to Australia, costing you more miles.
Paying this premium may be worth it if you want to combine Asia and Australia into one trip, you really want to fly Cathay Pacific, or you have no other way to get to Australia.
Cathay Pacific has its hub in Hong Kong, which AA classifies as part of Asia 2. North America to Asia 2 is 35k/55k/67.5k miles each way in economy/business/first. Asia 2 to the South Pacific is 25k/35k/45k each way.
That means if you routed from Los Angeles to Hong Kong to Sydney on Cathay Pacific oneway, it would cost 60k/90k/112.5k miles. That’s a hefty premium over a direct LAX-SYD flight, and it’s the price whether you stop in Hong Kong for two hours or two months.
If you’re willing to pay that premium, you can stop in Asia, enjoy Cathay Pacific’s product, and have more flexibility on your trip. And I should note that you are more than welcome to fly different classes of service from the USA to Asia and from Asia to Australia. Since it’s two separate awards, you can mix-and-match cabins at will.
To search for Cathay Pacific space, I recommend using qantas.com or BA.com–see my guide to using BA.com for oneworld award searches. Then you have to call AA to complete booking. You will incur a $25 phone fee.
I used Cathay Pacific as an example because it represents an aspirational award for many people. Everything in this section could equally apply if you route through Asia on AA metal or JAL metal (with slight changes in the miles needed if you route through Asia 1, which includes Japan.)
Between Oz and NZ
Getting between Australia and New Zealand with AA miles, there are only two options. You can try to find space on the tag flight between Auckland and Sydney on LAN’s Santiago, Chile to Sydney service. Or you can take one of the tons of flights on Qantas between major Australian cities and major New Zealand destinations.
There is no limit to the number of partners used on an AA award, so it’s not a problem to fly LAX-HNL-SYD-AKL on one award with the three flights operated by American, Qantas, and LAN.
Recap
There are several ways to get from the USA to Australia and New Zealand with AA miles. The quickest and most comfortable way to arrive is on a Qantas flight. Try to snag a seat on an A380 if you can.
If you want to combine Hawaii and Australia in one trip, you can do that easily by flying HNL-SYD on Qantas, Jetstar, or Hawaiian.
If you want to or have to route through Tahiti or Fiji, partners Air Tahiti Nui and Air Pacific can help.
Combining Asia and Australia will drive up the award price because American will treat your routing as two separate awards. The higher price may be worth paying to combine two great destinations and to fly a great carrier like Cathay Pacific.
Bonus
This article didn’t mention free oneways. Of course you can combine any trip to Australia with up to two free oneways since a free oneway can be added each direction on international AA awards.
Here’s my post on free oneways on AA awards. And if you don’t live anywhere on my list of international gateway cities, you can use my trick to get an almost free oneway if you don’t live at an international gateway city.
Posted in AAdvantage, Award Booking, Best Of, Cathay Pacific, How to
Tagged AAdvantage, Air Pacific, Air Tahiti Nui, Australia, Award Booking, New Zealand, Routing Rules
I have earned millions of points, primarily though credit cards, to travel the world in first class for pennies. This blog will show you how to earn and redeem points to do the same!
